Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Former nominees on panel - BBC Sport BBC Sport Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Former nominees on panel 19 Oct 2012 From the section Sports Personality Share this page Read more about sharing. Three former BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominees are included on the expert panel that will determine the shortlist of 12 for this year's award. Sir Steve Redgrave, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Denise Lewis will be joined by Baroness Campbell, chair of UK Sport, and representatives from the BBC and the newspaper industry. They will aim to produce a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. The winner will be announced at ExCeL in London on Sunday 16 December. Presented by Sue Barker, Gary Lineker and Clare Balding, Sports Personality of the Year will be broadcast live on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC Radio 5 live.

Sports Personality of the Year 2012 shortlist expert panel Director of BBC Sport - Barbara Slater (Chair) BBC head of TV Sport - Philip Bernie Executive editor of BBC Sports Personality of the Year - Carl Doran From BBC Radio 5 live - Eleanor Oldroyd (presenter, 5 live Sport) Three newspaper sports editors (to be rotated annually) - in 2012, Mike Dunn (sports editor, the Sun), Lee Clayton (head of sport, Daily Mail), Matthew Hancock (sports editor, the Observer) A pan sports broadcaster/journalist - Sue Mott Three former SPOTY nominees (to be appointed annually) - in 2012, Sir Steve Redgrave, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Denise Lewis Baroness Campbell, chair of UK Sport A capacity crowd of more than 15,000 will make it the biggest Sports Personality of the Year in the show's 59-year history, with tickets going on public sale at the end of the month. Full ticket details will be on the BBC Sport website closer to the date.

The event will bring down the curtain on what has been an historic 12 months of sport, highlights of which undoubtedly include the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. But 2012 was also the year that saw Wales secure their 11th Grand Slam in the Six Nations, Andy Murray's historic US Open triumph, Manchester City's remarkable comeback to win the Premier League title, Chelsea's Champions League victory, Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France triumph, Rory McIlroy's record-breaking win at the US PGA Championship which cemented his status as the world number one golfer, and Europe's sensational eleventh-hour victory over the United States in the Ryder Cup. Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "This year's Sports Personality of the Year will be a celebration of what has been a truly unique year for sport in the UK. We are incredibly proud to be hosting the sporting grand finale for such a remarkable year." With an increased shortlist from 10 to 12 - in recognition of the unprecedented success of UK athletes in 2012 - this year's battle for the coveted title will be one of the most hotly contested in the show's history.

If the expert panel cannot reach a consensus view as to who should be included on the shortlist, they will be asked to vote on the remaining candidates. In the event of a tied vote, the chair's decision will be binding. The public will once again vote for the winner during the live show, with the result announced at the end. The panel will also choose the first, second and third places for the Team of the Year, Overseas Personality of the Year and Coach of the Year awards. Other awards on the night will again be Young Sports Personality of the Year and Unsung Hero, which will continue to be decided by the existing specialist panel system, and the Lifetime Achievement and Helen Rollason awards which will be decided by the board of BBC Sport. Bradley Wiggins wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year - BBC Sport BBC Sport Bradley Wiggins wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 16 Dec 2012 From the section Sports Personality Share this page Media playback is not supported on this device Wiggins named Sports Personality 2012 Bradley Wiggins has been voted the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion, 32, beat 11 other contenders to the prestigious title. Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis was runner-up while US Open winner Andy Murray was third. "How could it have been better? 2012 was the year of Super Saturday, of the Miracle at Medinah, of a Weirwolf on the prowl and the fastest moving set of sideburns since Elvis Presley" "I will say thank you to everyone who voted," said Wiggins, who became the first Briton to win the Tour and followed that triumph by claiming his fourth Olympic title. After receiving the main award from the Duchess of Cambridge, he added: "We have had all that jungle stuff and X Factor in the last few weeks, so for people to pick up the phone and vote in half an hour, thank you very much. "What a year. To stand on this stage with the people next to me is incredible. I'd like to thank my team-mates - I wouldn't be on this stage without them.

I'd like to thank [British Cycling boss] the coaches, British Cycling, Team Sky and all the Olympians." Prime Minister David Cameron posted a message of congratulation on Twitter. "Congratulations to Bradley Wiggins - a truly inspirational winner, after an incredible year for British sport," he said. Last 10 winners 2004: Dame Kelly Holmes (athletics) 2003: Jonny Wilkinson (rugby union) More than 1.6m phone votes were recorded for the 12 BBC Sports Personality contenders, with Wiggins taking 30.25% of the vote. Wiggins mixed track and road cycling from an early age, but first came to wider public prominence in the velodrome, when he won 4km individual pursuit gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The Lancashire-based athlete followed that up with two more golds on the track at the Beijing Games in 2008, a year in which he also picked up three titles at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Wiggins showed his Tour pedigree when finishing fourth overall in 2009 (later promoted to third following the disqualification of third-placed Lance Armstrong) before securing a first Grand Tour podium place with third in the Vuelta a Espana two years later - a place behind Team Sky team-mate and fellow Briton Chris Froome, who was to play a key supporting role in Wiggins's 2012 Tour win. Media playback is not supported on this device Wiggins teases 'Susan' Barker In total, the Briton won Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour de France during 2012 - the only cyclist ever to achieve that feat in a single season. And just over a week after his Tour victory, the Belgium-born rider won the time trial at London 2012 to take his tally of Olympic medals to seven, a haul only equalled among Britons by fellow cyclist and 2012 Sports Personality nominee Sir Chris Hoy.

Below are the results of the phone voting for the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year main award: Total votes: 1,626,718 1. Bradley Wiggins 492,064 (30.25%) 2. Jessica Ennis 372,765 (22.92%) 3. Andy Murray 230,444 (14.17%) 4. Mo Farah 131,327 (8.07%) 5. David Weir 114,633 (7.05%) 6. Ellie Simmonds 102,894 (6.33%) 7. Sir Chris Hoy 42,961 (2.64%) 8. Nicola Adams 35,560 (2.19%) 9. Ben Ainslie 35,373 (2.17%) 10. Rory McIlroy 29,729 (1.83%) 11.

Katherine Grainger 28,626 (1.76%) 12. Sarah Storey 10,342 (0.64%) Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Former nominees on panel - BBC Sport BBC Sport Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Former nominees on panel 19 Oct 2012 From the section Sports Personality Share this page Read more about sharing. Three former BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominees are included on the expert panel that will determine the shortlist of 12 for this year's award. Sir Steve Redgrave, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Denise Lewis will be joined by Baroness Campbell, chair of UK Sport, and representatives from the BBC and the newspaper industry. They will aim to produce a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. The winner will be announced at ExCeL in London on Sunday 16 December. Presented by Sue Barker, Gary Lineker and Clare Balding, Sports Personality of the Year will be broadcast live on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC Radio 5 live.

Sports Personality of the Year 2012 shortlist expert panel Director of BBC Sport - Barbara Slater (Chair) BBC head of TV Sport - Philip Bernie Executive editor of BBC Sports Personality of the Year - Carl Doran From BBC Radio 5 live - Eleanor Oldroyd (presenter, 5 live Sport) Three newspaper sports editors (to be rotated annually) - in 2012, Mike Dunn (sports editor, the Sun), Lee Clayton (head of sport, Daily Mail), Matthew Hancock (sports editor, the Observer) A pan sports broadcaster/journalist - Sue Mott Three former SPOTY nominees (to be appointed annually) - in 2012, Sir Steve Redgrave, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Denise Lewis Baroness Campbell, chair of UK Sport A capacity crowd of more than 15,000 will make it the biggest Sports Personality of the Year in the show's 59-year history, with tickets going on public sale at the end of the month. Full ticket details will be on the BBC Sport website closer to the date.

The event will bring down the curtain on what has been an historic 12 months of sport, highlights of which undoubtedly include the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. But 2012 was also the year that saw Wales secure their 11th Grand Slam in the Six Nations, Andy Murray's historic US Open triumph, Manchester City's remarkable comeback to win the Premier League title, Chelsea's Champions League victory, Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France triumph, Rory McIlroy's record-breaking win at the US PGA Championship which cemented his status as the world number one golfer, and Europe's sensational eleventh-hour victory over the United States in the Ryder Cup. Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: "This year's Sports Personality of the Year will be a celebration of what has been a truly unique year for sport in the UK. We are incredibly proud to be hosting the sporting grand finale for such a remarkable year." With an increased shortlist from 10 to 12 - in recognition of the unprecedented success of UK athletes in 2012 - this year's battle for the coveted title will be one of the most hotly contested in the show's history.

If the expert panel cannot reach a consensus view as to who should be included on the shortlist, they will be asked to vote on the remaining candidates. In the event of a tied vote, the chair's decision will be binding. The public will once again vote for the winner during the live show, with the result announced at the end. The panel will also choose the first, second and third places for the Team of the Year, Overseas Personality of the Year and Coach of the Year awards. Other awards on the night will again be Young Sports Personality of the Year and Unsung Hero, which will continue to be decided by the existing specialist panel system, and the Lifetime Achievement and Helen Rollason awards which will be decided by the board of BBC Sport. BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 photos - BBC Sport BBC Sport BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 photos 16 Dec 2012 From the section Sports Personality Share this page Read more about sharing.

England manager Roy Hodgson arrives at the ExCeL for Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards Double Olympic champion Mo Farah and family do the 'Mobot' after arriving at the ExCeL for 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, who won Olympic gold at London 2012, arrives at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards at ExCeL No flamboyant trousers on show as golfer Ian Poulter stops for photos on the red carpet ahead of Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards at ExCeL Dame Mary Peters, who in September celebrated 40 years since winning Olympic gold, arrives at the ExCeL for Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards Former cricket umpire Dickie Bird on the red carpet ahead of Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards at ExCeL England rugby captain Chris Robshaw and singer Camilla Kerslake on the red carpet ahead of Sunday night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards at ExCeL Ben Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor in history, walks on stage carrying a flare and recalls the pivotal moment which spurred him on to clinch his fourth straight gold medal Four

-time Paralympic swimming champion Ellie Simmonds (right) speaks about her achievements at this year's London Games.

Swimmer Josef Craig (second left) is the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year after becoming Britain's youngest gold medallist at the 2012 Paralympics Cycling supremo Dave Brailsford is awarded Coach of the Year after guiding Bradley Wiggins to Tour de France win and Olympic cycling golds Lord Sebastian Coe receives his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Duchess of Cambridge, with David Beckham and Duncan Goodhew looking on Andy Murray finishes third and basically hands himself the award as boxer Lennox Lewis struggles with the video link from Miami Heptathlete Jessica Ennis received 22.92% of the votes and finished second to Bradley Wiggins 2012 Sports Personality of the Year Bradley Wiggins holds the trophy aloft after being presented it by the Duchess of Cambridge Share this page BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Was 2012 as good as it gets? - Telegraph BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Was 2012 as good as it gets?

Ahead of BBC Sports Personality of the Year tonight, the accolade means something special this Olympic year Bradley Wiggins celebrates after winning the gold medal at the end of the London 2012 Olympic Games men's individual time trial road cycling event Photo: AFP By Brian Viner Comments The 2012 Tour de France winner and Olympic road-race champion Bradley Wiggins is a clear favourite with the bookmakers to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year this evening. In a way, it is not his odds of 1/3 that catch the eye, but those alongside the names of Andy Murray, Rory McIlroy, Sir Chris Hoy and Ben Ainslie, whose respective achievements, in any other year, would make them strong contenders for the venerable title. Yet Murray is a 16/1 shot, with McIlroy, Hoy and Ainslie such rank outsiders that if they were racehorses, you would question why they were even running.

Almost as shockingly, the double Olympic champion Mo Farah, whose joyful personality so captivated the nation back in those halcyon days of summer, and the similarly beguiling Jessica Ennis, who won our hearts as surely as she won the heptathlon, can be backed at 8/1. The remarkable paralympians Ellie Simmonds and David Weir are both a distant 66/1. It is instructive, in using the BBC Sports Personality award as a measure of what an extraordinary year this has been for British sport, to consider that in 1997 it was bestowed on Greg Rusedski, whose defining deed was merely to have reached (and been well-beaten in) the final of the US Open, the tournament that this year Murray so magnificently won. The winner three years before that was Damon Hill, who had finished runner-up to Michael Schumacher in the Formula One drivers’ championship. Second place used to be good enough to win the BBC’s prestigious prize. Whereas this year, unless Farah confounds the odds (and he might), it won’t even be enough to have come first twice.

Of course, British sport has always thrown up fat years and fallow years, sometimes adjacent to one another. The Sports Personality of 1972 was Mary Peters, the queen of British athletics, yet her immediate predecessor was HRH Princess Anne, jolly good in the saddle and all that, but whose main qualification was her kinship to a real Queen. Even as an impressionable schoolboy, I could see how absurd it was to confer the honour on Princess Anne – but then we had to put up with a lot of absurdity in the 1970s, the decade in which two football World Cups passed without England taking part (though Scotland did), while the 1976 Olympics yielded only a single athletics medal, a bronze for doughty Brendan Foster. This summer’s medal haul looked good from any perspective, but particularly the perspective of history. Related Articles Games glory is Grainger's cup of tea 13 Dec 2012 Does this mean that 2012 stands unrivalled as Britain’s greatest-ever sporting year? Actually, it doesn’t.

Rivals include 1953 – when England’s cricketers regained the Ashes after 19 years, Wales beat the All Blacks, Gordon Richards won his first and only Derby, and Stanley Matthews somehow became synonymous with an FA Cup final in which his team-mate Stan Mortensen had scored a hat-trick – and 1956, when Jim Laker took all but one of the 20 Australian wickets to fall in a Test match at Old Trafford, a cricketing feat that remains unsurpassed, and is probably unsurpassable. Nor will we ever see the like again of the German former PoW Bert Trautmann, who in the 1956 FA Cup final kept goal for Manchester City with a broken neck. Those were memorable sporting years for Britain, as were 1981 and 2005 (also marked by famous Ashes victories), and of course 1966, when England’s footballers led by Bobby Moore planted the St George’s Cross at the summit of the world game.

And the myriad disappointments of the 1970s notwithstanding, let’s not overlook 1974, when the British and Irish Lions came home from South Africa unbeaten, and John Conteh became light-heavyweight boxing champion of the world. A little oddly, that year’s BBC sports personality was our old friend Brendan Foster, who had won the European 5,000m title. It was an achievement not to be sniffed at, but where will that leave Farah, the Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion, if he doesn’t get sufficient votes tonight? On the wrong side of an injustice, obviously, except that it will be no less unjust if Wiggins, and for that matter everyone else on the unprecedentedly deserving shortlist, fails to win. It is Wiggins who perhaps exemplifies best the way in which 2012 scores over every other sporting year. For these are not just mighty deeds being celebrated, they are truly epochal.

Before Wiggins, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France; before Murray, Britain’s most recent winner of a Grand Slam singles title was Fred Perry in 1936; before Nicola Adams, no woman, whether British or otherwise, had ever won Olympic boxing gold. There have been plenty of other years in which British sportsmen and women broke new ground, notably 1954 when Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes, but never has there been a year in which quite so much new ground was broken. And most of it in our own back yard, too. No matter how strong a case is made for some of those other years to be considered the greatest, the clincher for 2012 is undoubtedly London’s triumphant hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the marvellous way in which Team GB rose to such a momentous occasion. If this sporting year had amounted to nothing more than the Games, it would still be unforgettable. But there were firsts and finests wherever you looked.

In football, Chelsea won the Champions League, and the two Manchester clubs, contesting the most thrilling of all title races, showed that for excitement, the Premier League is unbeatable. In golf, McIlroy won the USPGA by eight shots, eclipsing the record margin of victory established by Jack Nicklaus in 1980, and doing so at a younger age than Tiger Woods when he won his second major championship. Anyone who nudges aside Nicklaus and Woods in the record books is surely destined for true greatness. And McIlroy also had a hand in the most stirring of all Ryder Cup comebacks, although not as big a hand as another Brit, the electrifying, talismanic Ian Poulter. Moreover, even as this incredible sporting year draws to a close, the deeds keep on coming. Another record margin of victory was chalked up at Twickenham this month, where England put 38 points past the world-champion All Blacks. Also this month, Alastair Cook became England’s most prolific century-scorer in Test cricket. Again, these are immense feats, yet they just seemed part of the 2012 script.

So, insofar as these things can be quantified, 2012 is not unrivalled but certainly unequalled as British sport’s annus mirabilis. Much harder, indeed impossible to measure, is the effect of all this success on the national psyche. And can we accept the cynicism of those who, even now, question whether the Olympics were worth the expense? Can something as intangible as a “feelgood factor” be worth its weight in gold? Or, to be more precise, in 29 gold medals? I think it can. Britain can no longer strut diplomatically on the international stage, still less economically, but 2012 put us front and centre of that stage in the most positive and dramatic way imaginable. Whether that will yield long-term benefits for British business overseas, or for our tourism industry at home, who knows. But it made us feel better about ourselves, and that really does matter. The rainbow of helpfulness and common decency that shimmered over London during the Olympics might have dissipated, but it was wonderful to know that it was there, and to realise that our fabled Blitz spirit can be summoned in good times as well as bad.

It helped that this was also the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. But not even that united us as a nation like 12 months of sporting conquest. So whether it’s Wiggins, Farah, Ennis or someone else who wins tonight, the truth, glib as it sounds, is that 2012 made winners of us all. BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: the best moments | Sport | The Guardian Shortcuts BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: the best moments From Bradley Wiggins' off-the-wall remarks to 7/7 survivor Martine Wright's tearjerking, inspirational speech, the ceremony had plenty of fantastic moments. Here are our favourites Monday 17 December 2012 08.15 EST First published on Monday 17 December 2012 08.15 EST Share on Messenger Close Never again will we see the like. All 12 finalists could easily have won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in any other year. Really, how were you able to choose between them?

It almost lifted the bad taste left by last year, when no women were nominated , and well and truly banished the bad memories of those years in the 90s when Damon Hill seemed to win it every time. In 2011, the total number of votes cast was 341,959; last night, Wiggins alone took nearly half a million and the total vote was more than 1.6m. Here are our favourite moments from last night (think of it as a montage, perhaps with music by Emeli Sandé) … The winner, Bradley Wiggins, actually has a personality Bradley Wiggins gives his victory speech watched by the Duchess of Cambridge. Photograph: David Davies/PA Only bores moan that "Sport personality" is an oxymoron, especially in the era of Ellie Simmonds, Mo Farah and Nicola Adams. It was always going to be Wiggins' night though, from his loose-cannon opening appearance which caused "Susan" Barker to look distinctly uneasy, to a reminder of his astounding achievements this year. Not to mention the velour suit. If he is now predictably brilliant on the bike, he is thrillingly unpredictable off it.

Even his wife, Cath, was caught by the cameras cringing and mouthing something along the lines of, "Oh no," as her husband took the mic for his acceptance speech . Lennox Lewis giving Andy Murray his award Pinterest Until we get the news that Lewis and Murray's two-man comedy show is confirmed, we'll have to make do with watching the moment when Lewis hands Murray the trophy – or rather, doesn't – for third place, again and again. Lewis is looking around as if pretending not to be there (he later tweeted he didn't have an earpiece and was watching it off-camera to get his cue). Still it made Andy smile for the first time all night. I love it when Andy smiles. Chad's dad Bert Le Clos being interviewed by Clare Balding. Photograph: BBC Bert Le Clos was the clear breakout star of London 2012 when he was interviewed by Clare Balding after his "beautiful boy" beat Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly. His appearance last night brought a massive cheer. "You personified parental pride," Balding told him.

He thanked her for making him famous "30 years … and 40 kilos too late." If the Lewis-Murray sitcom doesn't get commissioned, can we have Bert & Balding instead? The presenters Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and Sue Barker. Photograph: Todd Antony/BBC My theory is that Gary Lineker had to break out the Spanish when interviewing Sergio Aguero, the Argentinian Manchester City player, because he was aware he was being upstaged by the magnificent Balding and Barker. He took the teasing from Wiggins about his makeup pretty well, though, and maybe this is the incentive he needs to step away from the bronzer. Louis Smith's look Louis Smith's models his 'Hercule Poirot' look. Photograph: WireImage If being criticised by the Daily Mail for your style is the celeb equivalent of being told by your parents that you shouldn't go out dressed like that, Louis Smith has to win best-dressed man of the night. Taking inspiration from Truman Capote, Spike Lee and Hercule Poirot, he looked sharp. Best groomed eyebrows of the night goes to David Beckham. The BBC goes into production overdrive Clare Balding introduces the Weirwolf.

Photograph: BBC Smoke, flares, lights. Montages with inspiring music – some, incredibly, not by Emeli Sandé; montages with profound literature (Kenneth Branagh reading Virgil, for instance, to jazz up the rowing). And then we had the mighty David Weir who came out to Thriller, because of his nickname, the Weirwolf, and more smoke machines than a Marillion concert. The best bit? Obviously Clare Balding doing a growl and a wolf-paw swipe to introduce him. The Poznan The crowd does the Manchester City Poznan. Photograph: BBC This was not a night for footballers, no matter how fond everyone is of Fabrice Muamba. But the sight of the crowd doing the Poznan , Manchester City's adopted celebration, was a highlight, particularly spotting people in the audience, facing the wrong way (ie, not backwards) who didn't have a clue what to do. Does anyone know if Alex Ferguson was in the audience? Kate Middleton makes an entrance The Duchess of Cambridge.

Photograph: David Davies/PA Yes, she did look dazzling, expertly navigating a perilously floor-skimming dress and high heels, channelling old-school Hollywood glamour (with a touch of Liz Hurley) - but why didn't they let her speak? Martine Wright wins the Helen Rollason award Martine Wright. Photograph: BBC Already brought to the brink by all the montages, there wasn't a dry eye in the house as sitting volleyball Paralympian Martine Wright collected her award from Denise Lewis and Liz Kenworthy, the off-duty police officer who saved her life on the day of the 7/7 bombings. In a pitch-perfect speech, Wright didn't focus on her own achievements, instead paying tribute to the 52 people who lost their lives that day.

"This is the time to get together, we need to remember the summer but we need to build on this legacy and go ahead and inspire the nation." Tour de France champion and Olympic time trial gold medallist takes home another trophy on night dominated by 2012 Games Published: 16 Dec 2012 Tour de France champion and Olympic time trial gold medallist Bradley Wiggins says winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year is his 'greatest sporting achievement' Published: 17 Dec 2012 Tour de France winner and Olympic gold medallist promises award to his local – after a spell on his nan's mantelpiece Published: 16 Dec 2012 Simon Hattenstone: Just revisiting so many golden moments was pure serotonin as Auntie enjoyed reliving the year's wonders Published: 16 Dec 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Jessica Ennis on an amazing year - Mirror Online Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Jessica Ennis and marathons are words which do not normally go together. But since becoming ­Olympic champion that is just what she has been doing – in front of the television.

One of Ennis’ great loves is TV ­box-sets and she has been catching up in style since that amazing Super Saturday in August when she won the heptathlon at London 2012. Her favourite is American ­medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and Ennis said: “I should be an ambassador for them because I tell so many people about it. “It is just so up my street – it has gore, romance, ­comedy and is fantastic.” Off track: Ennis has been attending numerous glitzy bashes since the Olympics finished (Photo: WireImage) She won’t be watching television tonight though, she could be the star of it instead as a contender to win the BBC Sports ­Personality of The Year . Ennis, 26, who ­finished third in the awards in 2009 and 2010, is one of 12 nominees. But whatever happens at the Excel Centre in London, she will walk away knowing she could not have asked for more this summer. Bradley Wiggins. the Tour de France winner and Olympic time trial champion, is favourite – he is even her choice – but gold in ­London now makes Ennis look at her whole life in a different way.

Ennis was left in tears, distraught about missing the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 after she fractured her right foot just three months before the Games. But her triumph in London, as she broke her own British record to win the seven-event competition with 6,955 points, has put ­everything into ­perspective. The body: Ennis has become the face of the London Olympics (Photo: Getty) Ennis said: “I was worried I was going to ruin my career because of the ­injury I had. I was worried that I was not going to come back ­stronger and there are all those doubts in your mind. “I used to say to myself that hopefully it happened for a reason which I will see in the future – and now that I can look back, it was supposed to be my journey into this year. “I would not change any of it. It was the way it was meant to be. “It makes it so much sweeter ­knowing I came through that ­disappointment before the Beijing Olympics.

I would not want to have had it any other way.” Her stunning London glory arrived just moments before teammates Greg Rutherford won long jump gold and Mo Farah triumphed in the 10,000m. Farah, who then won the 5,000m a week later, has also been nominated this evening. But Ennis is so looking forward to the chance to absorb an astonishing sporting year – and not while wearing singlet and shorts. She said: “It’s going to be such a great night, an opportunity for us all to get dressed up and look back on what we have achieved. “We would all love to win. I don’t think I will win, though it would be an amazing end to a ­brilliant year. “But I will come away from 2012 having achieved all I want to achieve and the most important thing for me was performing on those two days in London.” Get the latest on BBC Sports Personality of the Year..

Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Time to reward magical Andy Murray - Telegraph Sports Personality of the Year BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012: Time to reward magical Andy Murray To understand why Andy Murray is the finest British sportsman playing today, you don’t need to look at his service return, his tactical ingenuity, or his court coverage. You just need to look over the far side of the net. Golden boy: Andy Murray has enjoyed his best-ever year in tennis, and won two medals at the Olympics - a gold in the singles and a silver in the mixed doubles - and finally broke his grand slam duck Photo: AFP < > Follow Tennis is unique among contemporary sports in the quality of its leading players. Since 2004, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have fought out the greatest sustained rivalry in the history of the game. Then, over the last two seasons, Novak Djokovic has raised the bar again, outplaying both men to establish himself as the rightful world No1. This is the context in which Murray willed himself, baby step by baby step, to his grand slam breakthrough in New York.

The absence of any male Britons on the honour roll since 1936 demonstrated how difficult it is to win a major singles title. And it is only getting harder. In 1977, John Lloyd had his chance against Vitus Gerulaitis in the final of the Australian Open. Twenty years later, Greg Rusedski faced Pat Rafter at Flushing Meadows. These were both challenging opponents, but not on the level of Djokovic, who pushed Murray almost to the end of his endurance before finally succumbing 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in an epic encounter that lasted four hours and 54 minutes. From a purely historical perspective, you could argue that winning the Tour de France – a feat never before accomplished by a British rider – was an even more seismic event than winning the US Open. But who was Bradley Wiggins up against? The purge of tainted riders from the dark ages of cycling had left the field bare of recognisable names.

After Chris Froome in second place, the next four finishers in the general classification were Vincenzo Nibali, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Tejay van Garderen and Haimar Zubeldia. Related Articles A spotters' guide to SPOTY 14 Dec 2012 The same, to a lesser extent, goes for Mo Farah. To complete the 5,000m/10,000m double at an Olympic Games is an extraordinary effort, yet Farah’s success has coincided with a slight dip in the quality of the East African runners. Clearly, there is a tactical element to the races, so a stopwatch comparison can be misleading. But it is still worth noting that Kenenisa Bekele’s winning times in Beijing were 12min 57sec and 27min 01sec, as against Farah’s 13min 41sec and 27min 30sec. Tennis is not played against the clock – you just have to keep winning until you are the last man standing. At the Olympics, Murray saw off the two top-rated players in the world over the middle weekend.

No fewer than 800,000 people went to the BBC website to catch up with his straight-sets demolition of Roger Federer in the gold-medal match. That men’s singles final was the most requested iPlayer broadcast of the whole Olympiad. In all probability, the cycling lobby will mobilise and anoint Wiggins as our Sports Personality of the Year for what may just be the greatest year in the history of British sport. Tennis fans are less territorial, and less likely to vote en masse, yet they are slowly beginning to warm to Murray. He is a man with a dry sense of humour who does not naturally play the celebrity game, and his reticence has counted against him. He has long been idolised in Scotland, but only since his emotional runners-up speech at Wimbledon have the English sporting public begun to turn in his favour. When Murray started working with Ivan Lendl at the beginning of the year, he confessed his fear that winning the biggest titles might change him as a person. That hasn’t happened, but he has certainly changed as a player under Lendl’s forensic observation.

Just ask Djokovic, who told the BBC last week that “in 2012 [Murray] got more aggressive on court, going for his shots more, particularly on his first shot after his serve”. From one week to the next Murray has gone out and dealt with the pressure, the expectation and the media scrutiny. Perhaps only Rory McIlroy, out of the other 11 names on the SPOTY shortlist, could understand the relentlessness of the ATP tour. He finished 2012 as the winner of two of the five biggest tournaments of the year – which is more than Federer, Djokovic or Nadal can claim. He has beaten some of the best sportsmen in the world, in any discipline. And he has done it with flair and imagination. I cannot imagine a more deserving SPOTY.

Question: Who was the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year for 2012?
Answer: Bradley Wiggins